Cinephilia and History, or the Wind in the Trees

Christian M. Keathley (Author)

9780253217950

Paperback / softback, published 24 November 2005

232 pages, 13 b&w photos, 1 bibliog., 1 index
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.6 cm, 0.336 kg

"..original, provocative, and well—written.."—Choice

Cinephilia and History, or The Wind in the Trees is in part a history of cinephilia, in part an attempt to recapture the spirit of cinephilia for the discipline of film studies, and in part an experiment in cinephilic writing.
Cinephiles have regularly fetishized contingent, marginal details in the motion picture image: the gesture of a hand, the wind in the trees. Christian Keathley demonstrates that the spectatorial tendency that produces such cinematic encounters—a viewing practice marked by a drift in visual attention away from the primary visual elements on display—in fact has clear links to the origins of film as defined by André Bazin, Roland Barthes, and others. Keathley explores the implications of this ontology and proposes the "cinephiliac anecdote" as a new type of criticism, a method of historical writing that both imitates and extends the experience of these fugitive moments.

Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Desire for Cinema
2. The Cinephiliac Moment and Panoramic Perception
3. André Bazin and the Revelatory Potential of Cinema
4. Cahiers du Cinéma and the Way of Looking
5. Film and the Limits of History
6. A Cinephiliac History
7. Five Cinephiliac Anecdotes
Notes
Bibliography
Index